2009 flood

Well, it's been an interesting week so far; however, I'm sure it's going to get much more interesting by the end of it all. Fargo/Moorhead is getting evacuation calls constantly now. Our friends have all left the FM area except for the men that had to stay behind and help out either with sandbagging or flying people out.

Here is where it starts for us 60 miles down The Red. This is where the Sand Hill River backs up in between the farm and the nearest neighbors. It is usually a ravine between the two yards. The river is actually across the road...or supposed to be across the road. About 3/4 of a mile down river is where it meets up with the Red River of the North. She's looking pretty ugly right about now.



This is the actual Sand Hill River.


This was after we got snow the evening of the 24th and through the 25th. When you live in the country (outside of a township) you can go to the County Sheriff's Department and get sandbags (empty) and then you have to call for sand to be delivered to your house. On the left in this picture is the Sand Hill and on the right is the ravine where it backs up.


Same as above. We ended up getting over a foot of snow in a 24-hour period of time and the snow on this road was deep. It was scary driving in these tracks, trying to stay on the road and take a picture. Finn was not in the car (in case you were wondering)!

This was when I was coming back to the farm. You can see the tops of the fence posts coming out of the water. They usually have cattle in this ravine in the summer with a pretty little stream running through it.

The sandbagging operation at the farm. You have to shovel the snow away from where you are going to lay the plastic and bags. You lay plastic down (about 5 feet wide) and start laying the sandbags. Each sandbag weighs about 50 to 60 pounds.

But first, you have to fill them and that takes a few people. This is the crew that we had the first day of sandbagging. Here are neighbors from across the river; our good friends Jeramy, Justin, John and Ryan (of Jeramy and Danae, Justin and Allison, John and Katy and Ryan and Kaelin-all from our church); Kristen's boyfriend, Monty and good family friends Mark and 3 of his sons Andrew, Isaac and Levi. We have been so blessed by all of the friends that have come to help out-not just us but all throughout the Red River Valley.

Someone shovels and someone holds the bag. Another will load the truck and others will lay them down around the house. By the way, they are wearing their winter coats because it was about 15 degrees and the wind was blowing hard...not the perfect sandbagging weather.

They used about 1500 to 2000 sandbags at the farm.

They were about a quarter of the way through the sand at this point.

The sandbagging line.

Finn watching them from the window. He doesn't seem to notice that anything huge is going on. He's just been at Grandma and Grandpa's house a lot lately (which he enjoys), so it's been all good for him!

After finishing at the farm Thursday morning, everyone went over to the neighbors (across the ravine--you can see the farm in the background of this picture). There were about 10 students that came from a local high school that just showed up to help. We also got a couple of families from the church that Matthew teaches at every other Sunday night.

We ran out of sand and bags so we waited for the prefilled bags from town and Isaac slept.

And this is what happened next. It's a scary site. We now have to go 3 miles out of the way to get to the farm from town.

This is how the highway looked going out of town this morning. Finn and I went to EGF to get some groceries and try to stock up a little.

I don't know if you have any clue what you're looking at in this picture, but there is water out beyond the snow that isn't supposed to be up that high.

Finn got a little restless on the way to town, so he got to open one of his traveling gifts from Grandma and Bama. Today it was Buzz Lightyear and Scooby Doo. He loved them!

I didn't have to go into GF, but I decided to cross over the only bridge open now between here and Fargo, just to try and get pictures.

The sign says Red River of the North. You can tell that it is really high and definitely out of its banks.

Going over the bridge. These pictures are sideways because I didn't actually focus the camera...I was driving after all!

This is the bridge going over The Red a mile from our house. They closed it this morning.

From left to right: Monty, Matthew, John (a neighbor that lives across the Sand Hill), Ryan and John.

Here's a little bit of the filling going on. It was a pretty laid-back time. I think the guys actually kind of enjoyed it. I think it's something that everyone should do if you get a chance. Not only will you feel good serving others, but you will appreciate what other people are going through to help you.

This was at the neighbors house across the ravine. They are quite a bit lower than the farm and so they needed a bigger dike. Who knew they would end up with a 30 feet deep by 50 feet wide crater in their front yard to build up the front and sides. Someone mentioned a swimming pool this summer....

While the front and sides were clay from the front yard, they couldn't get the backhoe and smaller machinery in the back of the house without falling into the river. So that had to be sandbagged. They had to have anywhere from 3000 to 5000 bags layed. I was only there for about 500. I'm thankful that I have a 1-1/2 year old to carry sometimes, because I think that's the only reason I was able to lift these and not fall under the weight. The reason these guys are throwing them down is because this was after we had run out of bags and sand. These are the prefilled ones from town and on the way out they froze. You can't lay a frozen sandbag down because, of course, it won't contour to the one below or above it. It had to be broken up and thrown down to loosen the sand up. Kristen and I watched during this part.

Here is the crater in the front yard. It was unbelievable. Unfortunately, a couple of trees were lost in the making of this dike. While standing on this dike, a friend of ours GPS'd the location compared to the farm and it was still 2 feet lower than the farm. That's why they have a much higher dike.

This probably won't mean anything to anyone unless you've been here, but this is the garage side of their house and the water coming up on this side. The water will wrap around 3 sides of the house and then the front will go last. Let's hope the sandbags hold.

Kristen and I left a little before the guys did. We turned left out of the neighbor's driveway like we were going to the farm. She kept driving and I was starting to think she was going to try to drive through it. I don't usually like to talk on our videos, but I felt the need to speak up this time and tell her that we were NOT going through that! When I zoom the camera in, it's on the farm yard. The water has quite a bit to go before it gets up to the farm, but it is also coming from 3 different sides (front, right and left).

This is the dike in EGF this morning. They put the slats in yesterday to close it off. They have several of these surrounding the city. The feeling in this place was just really quite and calm. You would have no clue that water was right on the other side of all of these slats. This is the part of the dike that Matthew helped build several years ago.

That's how it's been going here this week. Stay tuned. I'm sure the pictures will get even more exciting, but hopefully not too exciting!

croup and play-doh

You'd never know Finn was sick and didn't feel well in this picture. Every time he laughed, it sounded like a seal barking.


At Dr. Bell's office looking out the window. This was his visit last week for when he had croup.

He's usually pretty patient, but today, he just wasn't feeling well and wanted to get it done with. He wanted to be held and then he wanted down...back and forth.

This picture was taken right before he rediscovered the fun paper. This happens every visit. He remembers how fun it is to stomp on the crinkly paper.

We were playing with play-doh one night and I made a play-doh person. He loved that person. Here he is giving him a hug.

Still hugging the play-doh. I wish I could have gotten a video of him cooing to it.

Guess who's in the wagon...

Mr. Play-doh person!

He got a ride through the whole house very slowly so he didn't fall (this happened a few times). When I heard "uh-oh" I knew it was time to rescue Mr. Play-doh again.

Finn at his 18 month checkup. He recognized the office right away this time and just played the whole time.

Climbing on Dr. Bell's exam chair. When she was asking her questions during the appointment, she asked if he was climbing onto things yet and while she was asking, he jumped up into the chair, stood up and started clapping. She was impressed by the climbing but not that he was standing in the chair, much less clapping...

He wanted to stand on it, but every time he would try, it would turn a little.

Still climbing.

On the table waiting for Dr. Bell. Can you believe this kid is under weight? He's 23 pounds now. when we were leaving, he said "bye-bye" and then showed her his muscles.

Finn rediscovering the paper, which was unfortunate. He started acting like he wasn't sick anymore and when Dr. Bell came in the room, he got a burst of energy and started running around and laughing. Honestly, I was happy he was feeling better, but it's not exactly what you want to see your "sick" kid doing at the doctor's office. She laughed and said that's how croup goes. It gets much worse at night...which it did.

This was our first play-doh person. I was making it walk and then sometimes I would make it talk to Finn. Finley then takes him and starts walking with him and then tries to get him to talk. That's when his head comes off. You will see none of the sentiment from when he pulled Mr. Play-doh around the house. This time, he takes play-doh person's head and slams it on the floor...twice. Then he slams his body down on the floor and covers the whole thing up with the rest of the play-doh. I wasn't really sure what to think about all that...

Someone was supposed to be going to bed...Sorry about the coughing, runny nose and other noises, but he was still sick.

I walked into the living room to see Finn lying on the floor looking at one of his books. He's never done that before, so I thought it was really cute. I neglected to see what he was REALLY doing on the floor...Don't ask me why it took me so long to see the play-doh. I watch the video now and that's all I can see, but I guess I was just caught up in the precious moment of my son lying on the floor looking at books. However, that is not what he was doing and then I saw the play-doh. It was pretty much spread all over the living room floor. The little bit you see isn't the half of it. He was lying on it, he had stepped on it and it was ground into some of the cracks in the floor. I don't even know how he got the container open!

Finn still can't jump. Matthew tries so hard to teach him, but it just doesn't work. I got out the camera this night because I thought this would be it. Alas, still no jumping...

2009 blizzard and interesting finn facts

I thought it was time to give some interesting facts about Finn, so here you go!


1. He loves peach yogurt with raw oatmeal mixed in.
2. He loves bananas, but not 2 days in a row...actually he doesn't like anything 2 days in a row.
3. Finn is still in size 3 Luvs diapers. Wal-Mart was ALL OUT of Luvs size 3 today, so I have settled for the Parent's Choice size 3. Tomorrow we try them. I will most likely be blogging about how I regret buying PC diapers.
4. He is in size 18 months to 24 months in clothes, although, he just grew out of a 6-12 month onesie (I was very sad to put that one away).
5. He loves taking long baths and playing. He no longer plays with his toys in there though. All he needs is a cup. He pretends to drink it and then pours it down the front of his body. He thinks it's hilarious...and since he laughs so hard about it, so do we. =)
6. This is no surprise, but VeggieTales is his absolute favorite thing to watch. His new favorite is "Little Joe" and when he wants to watch it, he will say "Doe" and point to the TV. If I say "No", he will melt to the floor in tears until I ask him "Is that how we act?" or "Do you need a spanking?" Then (most of the time) he will straighten up and just find something else to play with.
7. Finn likes to play outside in the snow; however, if his gloves are not on just perfectly, you will know it. He will say "uh-oh", "uh-oh", "uh-oh" and hold his hand up until it is fixed.
8. When he falls in the snow with his snowsuit on, you will be helping him. He's top heavy with all of the shirts, coats, hats and scarves that he will stay in the bent-over position until you help him up.
9. Finn still likes to eat snow (dirty or clean). Most of the "dirty" snow around here is not just dirt...if you catch my drift. We watch him carefully around "dirty" snow.
10. He loves to terrorize Zodie running after her while meowing at her (when he's excited, the meowing comes out in more of a screech--just the thing to do to Zodie while running after her).
11. Finn has his 18-month visit on Monday at 3, so I will post stats about that visit next week.

And now...our blizzard!
I tried to get a good picture of the sun dogs this morning, but it didn't work. Sun is in the middle of the circle and the two bright spots on both sides are the little rainbows around the sun. This only happens when it gets really cold and the sky is clear.



This was our sidewalk 3/4 of the way shoveled. It took an hour to do and I was sweating...even though the wind chill was supposed to have been -40. I then heard on the news last night that people who didn't have snow blowers weren't able to shovel the snow away because it was so heavy....I beg to differ! It might take awhile longer, but it IS possible. Here is Finn playing on the sidewalk. He's gotten really good at walking in all of his winter wear.


The walkway again.

The view into the back yard from the sidewalk against the garage.

Another view into the backyard next to the garage.

The tunnel the neighbor boys made while I was shoveling. It goes from our yard into theirs. I tried to take Finn through it this evening, but it had collapsed.

Bob (Matthew's dad) came in with the tractor to clear out our driveway and the neighbor's driveway. Finley saw the tractor coming (he was standing in the window) and about went crazy with excitement.

So, Grandpa came in and got him. Finn rode with him and cleared the driveways for about 30 minutes.

Sitting and playing in the snow.

Mommy and Finn in the snow. It was a very fun and memorable day for us.

Another video I'll never forget. I love his baby talk. For months now, he has said something like "b-da, b-da, b-da. I finally got it on video. Another thing that he has said for a long time is "duba-du-bye". I love that. We have no clue what he's saying, but it's just something he walks around the house saying.

Our blizzard. Kinda a boring video, but something to remember. I wish I had opened the window just a crack so you could have heard the howling. It went on for almost 2 days!

Finn watching Grandpa leave in the tractor after they finished clearing the driveways. He is always so upset to watch the tractor go "bye-bye".

Here is Finn trying to put his sock on. He's been interested in putting socks and shoes on for just about a week now. He can't do it yet and usually he just ends up lying his sock on his foot, but at least he's interested in learning. I don't know why he sniffs it and then uses it as a rag.

Finley walking on the snow in our backyard. The snow was so crunchy from the wind having blown for 2 days.

Finley walking in the snow. He was so happy to be out there walking around!

cough drops, movies and muscles

Matthew has been sick with a cold for almost 2 weeks now. It seems he's been living off of Advil Cold and Sinus and cough drops. Finley walked into the living room the other day and started breathing through his mouth weird and hitting his tongue. After watching him scrape his tongue and breathe weird for a minute I asked him what he had in his mouth and told him to say "ahhh". He said "ahhh" and stuck his tongue out and there was a fully wrapped cough drop in his mouth. He was not impressed with that unique taste and spent the next half hour trying to spit the cough drop taste out of his mouth.

As you all know, Finn loves VeggieTales. His new favorite is the Easter story, and at the end of this movie, Bob the tomato and Mr. Nezzer fly out of a burning building in a cart. As they are flying through the air, they start to yell. Finley will get off of the couch and stand so that he can yell as loud as he can with them. Sometimes he yells so loud that he balls up his fists and the veins pop out of his neck. Here he is yelling with Bob and Mr. Nezzer.

Finn telling us how big he is and showing off his muscles.