We broke down and took George, who in fact was confirmed to really be "Georgette", to the vet this evening. Jenny locked him in the garage this morning, enticing him in with food, and Dennis took off early to come home and take him to the vet for a 5pm appointment. On Sunday, he showed up with a limp leg and it got worse during the past few days.

The neighbor let us borrow a cat carrier, and it took some work to convince (push) him in. He was not happy on the ride, I am told. He meowed the whole time.

It appears Georgette has an infection in her leg, and thus got a shot. She also got rubbed down with some flea stuff. So she's happy in the garage again this evening, as we were advised to keep her inside for a few days. She seems content....likes having people come out once in a while and pet her head.

So far with food and vet, she is about a $125 "free stray" cat.

Last night, while Dennis was cooking dinner, Brandon announced loudly that he needed to go poop. We said "sure go ahead Brandon, you don't need to ask". So he proceeded to the bathroom.

A few minutes later, he yelled "Daaaaaadeeeeee", which we took to mean that he was done, and Dennis was the lucky designee that evening.

Dennis went in and said "Are you done?". Brandon said "No, but you can stay in here with me".

I think he was lonely.

Brandon asked this morning if we could go back to the carnival tonight. I said, "Well, we'll have to ask your Dad and see if he wants to go". Brandon said "Yeah, he'll probably want to go".....then he paused and said "But if he doesn't, we'll just leave him at home and go without him".

What more could a 3/12 year old ask for?

Last night Brandon had soccer practice in Hiawatha. I noticed that "Hiawatha Hog Wild Days" (yes, only in Iowa) were going on just across the street in the park. When practive was done, I gave Brandon the option: Go to Dairy Queen for a chocolate chip cookie dough blizzard (his very favorite), or go to a "carnival". He asked "What is a carnival Mom?" I told him, "Well, there is food and games and...." That took care it - he was sold on games.

So we went over and he got to ride on a bunch of rides: Motorcycle, car, airplane, train, feris wheel, carosel (where is spelling checker on this thing) and a jungle gym. He had a blast. Then we decided to get a "snack" before heading out and he picked a funnel cake over ice cream. He LOVED it, but we only got about 1/8 through it and got full. We took it back home to Dennis who ate the rest.

A fun date night with Brandon! (he asked what a date was.....he said "is it when you come and go?)

Anyone know the world record for passing a cough/cold/temperature back and forth among a family? I SWEAR we've shared the same darn cold among each other for 6+ months now. And we've recently added a nice cough to the lucky person who gets it next - Nathan right now. I am thinking that I should find a way to make some money off this (write a book, sell snot, etc.) to offset the hassle.

The cat we affectionately call "George", after Curious George, is back. After a few days missing in action, he (she? it?) showed back up for breakfast this morning. We found out that the neighbor girls call her (he. it?) "Princess" and feed it as well. Lucky cat.

Today was Brandon's first day of soccer, and his first day of organized sports. I am now officially a "Soccer Mom".

Brandon was really excited to go, although I was a little unsure of what would happen since Brandon kicks Dennis' shins at home when he's trying to get the ball away. Not a good thing to do with other 3 and 4 year olds.

Brandon was well behaved, listened to the coaches, had a lot of fun, and waved to me regularly. On one occasion, he had to come over and tell me "MAAAAAAM. I am waving to you - watch!"

Today starts a lot of years of sports, soccer, and sitting out in the sun burning up, but being sure to watch for when he looks over and waves.

http://2008flood.org/

www.corridorrecovery.org

Tonight we walked less than 1/2 mile to a bridge just at the bottom of our neighborhood. The bridge was closed off to cars, because of what was on the other side......



As you can see, the water on the other side of the bridge had not only covered the road, but swept it away.



What an incredible sight to see so close to our home.



The road just broke off, and was gone.

This first picture shows the line that was marked when the water crested in our neighborhood the night of 6/12/08. You can see where the line was in relation to the house just down the street from us on the corner.



This is the street street sign on the bottom corner of the street we live on - Cedar Heights Drive.



The water is not covering the street anymore. You can see the ducks have moved in.




The neighbors who were most at risk. Dennis helped with building this wall out of sandbags. The water was up to within a foot of the top of this wall.




There is still water in their front yards. At least it's not up to their doorstep anymore.

Singing in the rain, during the floods of 2008.

Vinton has been evacuated. Palo has been evacuated, parts of Cedar Rapids have been evacuated (where Jenny works), parts of Waterloo have been evacuated (where Dennis works), and tonight Dennis spent the whole evening bagging sand for the bottom portion of our own neighborhood.

Jenny participated in moving 160 people in her building where she works into a different building from 3pm to 10pm. Wow.

Needless to say, we're all very tired.

Watch the news on the flood here:

http://www.kcrg.com/

We've had two interesting episodes in the last few weeks dealing with one or both of the boys:

1) Brandon "accidentally" (he says) peed all over the bathroom. At first he denied it, then someone else did it, then it was an accident, finally he fessed up. It was a mess, and he had to help clean it up after timeout which he found to be "gross Mommy". When I first walked into the bathroom - bare foot - and realized what was going on, after some words with Bradon, he did the following: Put his head down, started to walk away, and said "Let me know when I can come out of timeout".

2) I walked into Brandon peeing into the toilet, with Nathan's hand in the stream. Needless to say, I think they both now understand why that is not a good idea, and won't be doing it again.

GROSS!