Birthday Party~ We are 2!

Oh, the kiddos had a great birthday party. A huge THANK YOU to everyone who came & for all the wonderful presents. Oh my goodness were there a LOT of presents! We had a stack of presents for each of them & then a group stack! I think everything turned out just perfect~ almost everyone could make it, we had great weather so, were able to eat outside & chit chat ouside. Hope everyone had a good time.

Here are some photos from the party.....

Birthday Party Day

Today we are busy getting everything ready for the trips 2nd birthday party. We are expecting around 25 people & it should be lots of fun. It is Sesame Street themed & I was so happy with the invites & I think the cakes turned out perfect!

Happy 2nd Birthday Austen, Caitlen & Brooklen!
My babies turned 2 today.... ok, I think at age 2 they are no longer babies, but considered toddlers, but they are my babies, so I can always call them babies~ right?!! I cannot believe they are 2. Where has the last 2 years gone? How can they be 2?
It's so bittersweet because I'm sad that they are already 2, but it's so much fun watching them grow & learn sooooo much every day!! The time is just flying by & we are just trying to enjoy EVERY minute of it. Yes, even now that they are 2 and in the past two weeks have really learned to throw a temper tantrum!

Here are a few recent pictures.
This one was taken at my sister's house after Bailey's 1st communion brunch. You are looking at a VERY rare photo. What you are viewing is almost 2 year old triplets, sitting on the same couch, all sitting, no fidgeting, crawling away or screaming- So rare!
These are pictures from last month. One rainy afternoon I tried a home photo shoot. As you can see Austen wanted no part of it! Side note: his day hadn't started off the best. When I got them dressed & I put tights on the girls.... well, Austen wanted tights on too. I think D.J. was VERY thankful I only had 2 pairs of tights or he probably would have been wearing tights. I convinced him tights were just long socks for the girls & he got to wear short socks. Caitlen wanting to play outside. Brooklen posing so good for the camera. The girls giving each other a kiss.Coloring & reading at their table. They LOVE their table!

Flood Cleanup Update
**If anyone is interested in donating money to the flood relief fund, AEGON has set up a foundation. You can make a tax deductible donation to the flood relief fund established by the AEGON Transamerica Foundation. Your donations will be matched dollar for dollar up to $1 million!! Checks should be made payable to AEGON Transamerica Foundation and designated "Disaster Relief Fund". Donations should be mailed to Marie Swope, 4333 Edgewood Road N.E., M.S. 3430, Cedar Rapids, IA 52499. To qualify, they must be received by September 1, 2008.**

We'll they were all hard back at it all day today, cleaning & clearing out the house. D.J. said at times it's really hard to see so much gone, the memories tug at your heart strings. Sometimes you just have to stop & take a breath, but you can't think for too long or it's overwhelming. Today they tackled the basement & the garage.

They are coming to the conclusion that it's probably not worth repairing...... that's just so sad. I feel so sorry for them, all of them- Sharon has lost her home & almost all of her stuff. D.J. and Dusty are seeing their childhood stuff just ruined. Jon got into town today & was just shocked at the devastation. It's gotta be so hard to see such damage to your belongings. It is just so sad & unbelievable!

Below are some more pictures from yesterday. They cleaned out the whole main floor, all furniture, the carpet & the padding, everything!
Look at all this carpet & padding. D.J. said it was super heavy!

This is a picture of the porch.

The kitchen she pretty recently had redone with new tile & new appliances.

What was the livingroom.

The livingroom looking into the diningroom. What was beautiful hardwood floors underneath the carpet.

Flood Update
On Sunday, D.J. & Sharon stood in a line for 3+ hours & waited to be escorted to her home for someone to go in & inspect the home & so they could assess the damages, that didn't happen~ it didn't happen for anyone at her "checkpoint". Instead the inspectors waited until Monday & forced their way into the home by breaking down the door (see photo. It's hard to have someone purposely damage your home after the flood has already taken so much from you.)inspected the house, they then would mark the home in one of two ways. If the building ONLY has a sticker on the door, the Entry Team has completed their assessment. The owners can enter the house at their own risk. There still may be hazards that are dangerous and caution should be taken. If the building has a sticker AND is wrapped in crime scene tape, the building was determined to be unsafe to enter. They then posted the addresses of the homes that could be re-entered.


Well, Sharon's home was marked with a sticker, so this morning they entered at their own risk. What really upset me & D.J. is they broke into Sharon's home, put the home on a list of homes that homeowners could return to, but did NOT continue to police the area!!! Anyway, Sharon & D.J. were able to go through the house & are currently clearing out the main floor. The water level got about 2-3 feet on the main floor, which is a lot of damage. Just think how much of your stuff is 2-3 feet off the floor. All furniture, all drawers, a LOT of stuff.... pretty much everything! I believe they have about 7 or so people helping clear out the house, not sure if they are going to attempt the basement today. The basement still has a few feet of water..... they really need to be careful D.J. said at least 1/2 the houses in the neighborhood were determined unsafe. D.J. took a couple pictures of neighbors where their basement wall collapsed. It's hard to decide which is easier or harder- to have the whole house determined "unsafe" & just have it bulldozed down, or have to sift through all your belongings & see how ruined everything is. It's going to be long, hard, emotional weeks, months. Sharon was also interviewed by many news teams; CNN a couple different times & they were set up right outside her home and then local KWWL & I think local KGAN.

Here you can see how high the water went up on Sharon's home.It was so humid & warm in the home when they entered the camera lens fogged up. Here is a picture from the diningroom into the livingroom. The door from the livingroom out onto the porch. You can see how the wood is swollen & bubbled up, D.J. said it was REALLY hard to get opened! The diningroom & some of the toys our kiddos liked to play with at Nanna's house. Most of the toys just floated around. You can see the layer of filth on the chairs. A shot down the stairs to the basement. You can see how filthy the walls are! Here are a couple pictures of neighbor's basement walls that collapsed.

Flood 2008~ Historic Flooding

Hi~ I just wanted to blog quick to let those of you know, we are all alright here. As I believe most of the country knows, and as many of you have called us~ THANK YOU for all your thoughts & prayers! Here in Eastern Iowa, we are being hit hard by major, major flooding. It really is truly unbelievable, we are not only breaking flood records, but we are shattering them! It is a historic & catastrophic event. Unbelievable to say the least. The Cedar River (in Cedar Rapids) flood stage is set at 12 feet...it crested yesterday at 31.12 feet! The good news for CR is....it has been falling today.
This tragedy is hitting too close to home. Not only is it hitting cities we grew up in or close to, but it hit D.J.'s mom's (Sharon / Nanna) house. We are not sure of the damage yet, but we know it filled her basement & is on the main floor~ we are just hoping only a couple feet onto the main floor. Sharon received a phone call Wednesday morning at 4:00am that she needed to evacuate her home. She did as she was told & grabbed necessities. Her legal documents, valuables, pictures, medicines & clothing for a few days. She has been here with us for the past few days, watching the news~ that is all that is on, it's depressing, but also very hard to shut it off. Being here with us she does have some relief~ the kiddos that can make her smile & see the bright side of life. She is hoping to get to her house tomorrow to assess the damages & then we'll head in to begin clean up, which we know is going to be a very long & hard process, but we are all ok & everything else is material & can be replaced. Sharon has lived in her home for over 40 years & our blood, sweat & tears will put it back together once again. It'll be better than before!

Here are some photos DJ & Sharon got today. It was this morning they decided to drive as close to Sharon's house as they could & see things for themselves. They could only get pictures of the garage & one corner where you can see a couple of evergreen trees she has planted. You can see on the garage doors that the water is going down.

Here are some photos, most aerial views that I got off the internet. Like I said it is just truly unbelievable!

Here is an aerial view of Cedar Rapids.

Here is the Czech Slovak Museum, which is near Sharon's home.

Downtown Cedar Rapids

The Linn County Courthouse and May's Island are under water

Floodwater of the Cedar River surrounds the Quaker Oats plant

Here is a photo of Mercy Hospital, 8 blocks from the river. On Thursday night/Friday morning Mercy Hospital had to be evacuated. How do you evacuate a hospital~ unbelievable!!

I believe this is a photo of Interstate 80 that is closed due to flooding.

As for Iowa City, they are bracing for the worst. The Iowa River is expected to crest Tuesday. It looks like the University of Iowa, its residents, and businesses in the area will be hit hard!
The Coralville strip is under water yesterday, after a levee was breached Thursday night.

Water pours over the Coralville Reservoir spillway yesterday.

Just trying to sit down & write about it is very hard, sad, unbelievable! My thoughts & prayers go out to everyone touched by this horrific event. If you can, please get out and volunteer or donate. Many people are in need. Thank you!

You can go to KCRG for information to donate or volunteer.