Fall Pictures

It is so nice having photographers in the family. Last month Jordan's cousin Britton and his wife Jenn came in town and did some family pictures for us. We did it by the water which made it extremely difficult since the boys and Jordan suddenly became obsessed with throwing rocks...it happens when they see water. Anyway, after Jordan finally threw a rock to the far bank across the lake and the boys were bribed with candy Brit and Jenn got some great shots. Here are some of my favorites. Enjoy.

The Sweetest Thing!

As a mom I got to do the most precious thing I've ever done today. I got to lead my little boy in asking Jesus into his heart. It was awesome. He's really had a strong conscience here lately. He is a very sensitive kid but lately I've found him in his room crying if he gets in trouble. I'd ask him what is wrong and he'd say "I just can't believe all the bad choices I'm making". I had a pretty good idea that we were getting close. So the boys and I are in the car on our way to the Fall Fest at church and Caleb says, "What are dumbbells made of?" Needless to say I had NO IDEA where this conversation was headed. I told him they were made of metal (who knows if that is true). He asked me what they are for. I tell him to make you strong and your muscles big and they make fat go away. He says, "Will they make my sins go away too?" I said, "No baby, how do you think that your sins go away?" He replies, " I need to ask Jesus into my heart." I asked him if he was ready to do that and he said yes. He even teared up a little. I asked why he was crying and he said he wasn't sure how to pray. I told him I'd help him out. I lead the prayer and he repeated it, I asked him if he meant it and he said yes. It was wonderful and he was very excited. I've prayed for this everyday since the day he was born. It is the most important decision of his life.

Here are my 3 ninja's before heading out the door!

Cotton Mouth Birthday

On the 7th our sweet Caleb turned 6 years old. It is hard to believe we have a 6 year old. I think that he had a great birthday. It all started last Friday when he had a little boy from school come and spend the night. This was his first sleepover and they had a great time. The highlight was jumping on the trampoline with ice on it. Yes, I have figured out a way to make an already not so safe activity even more not safe. But...they were happy and occupied for about 2 hours and I was home by myself while Jordan was at the ball game...so it was definitely worth it. (Sorry about the dark pictures)On Saturday we had our first soccer game. Caleb and Eli are both playing. I broke my own "no sports 'til your 5 rule" for Eli, but technically I don't consider soccer a sport. (Don't tell Jordan) It was cute and Eli got the most Christlike award...Jordan figured it was because he was laying hands on everything. If the ball came to him he'd just pick it up and run. Caleb scored some goals, one for our team and a few for the other team. Here they are in their GIANT uniforms. The blond kid isn't Micah, the do have the same hair though. Micah can't play 'til he is 4 (upward rules) and he is livid about it.After the game we hoofed it back to Denham and headed to the bouncy place for Caleb's Birthday party. The party was a cotton mouth snake theme. Yes, you read that right. At his 5 year old party last year he announced that he would like a cotton mouth snake party when he is 6. I tried to get him to broaden that to at least reptiles in general. He wouldn't budge. But it just so happens that I work with a girl that makes cakes and she made this for me.

I was amazed. Caleb and the kids loved it! The birthday boy got to eat the head. The cake tasted wonderful!
My mom came and surprised Caleb with this...We needed a bird right? The boys love her but I can't say that the feeling is mutual. Her favorite person in the world is Jordan. She is still a baby at just 4 months old. We think she is a she. One breeder swore she was a he but then another swore she was a she. We named her Olive just in case. Oliver or Olivia? But we do call her a she and it is nice to have another girl in the house.
For Caleb's actual birth day mom made the cutest cupcakes ever for his class and he was king for the day.Can you believe I found a chameleon puppet? Chameleons are his favorite animal!
We had one last birthday gift today.
You may ask why I am blogging in the middle of the day and why I'm not teaching. Caleb woke up with fever and our sweet spend the night friend has been out of school this week with Swine Flu. I brought him in and he tested negative for both strains of flu and strep. YIPPEE! He has a cold. I was so worried. Mostly because I have to go to Florida for a training next week and there is NO WAY Jordan can handle sick kids! So...all of you coming in for the Florida/LSU game...leave your respiratory masks at home and come on...just don't be surprised if you leave with a cold!

Froggy Friday

So today began like any other crazy Friday. We all get to school, go to our classes, and my students start piling in. Friday is always exciting because we have a special lunch thing, computer class, and show and tell.
I have 1 rule for show and tell as of now...”it has to fit in your backpack”. That is my only rule, I figured it would solve a lot of show and tell problems. But, I have kids that bring an extra backpack to fit their show and tell in and last week, sweet Brennan, brought his guinea pig and its giant cage. I reminded him of the backpack rule and he said, “Brownie will fit in my backpack, but he’d probably be dead for show and tell.” Good point, so I didn’t argue. I liked Brownie anyways.
So today, Brennan hauls in a giant clear plastic tub with a snap on lid that is duct-taped down. It has some murky water in it and lots of grass. We had to run off to computer so I didn’t really pay it much attention other than a quick glance. He did mention to me that it was a frog and I didn’t think much about it after that...until show and tell time that is.
So Brennan is first because the kids are asking to see the frog. I get the container and bring it up front. I couldn’t really see inside of it very well because the container was all foggy inside. So Brennan hands me this little flashlight. He proceeds to tell me that his mom said you can take the lid off and shine this light in his eyes and he will be still and everyone can look at him. “Well sure”, I thought. I actually kind of like frogs...tree frogs. I put my little surgical gloves on just in case I end up touching the thing. I sat the cage down on my cabinet and my whole class piles in around me. So I begin removing the duct tape (which was difficult with my gloves already in place), I then notice something, the eyes on this guy are pretty darn big for a frog. I unsnap the lid and then notice his long, muscular frog leg. I had a quick mental picture of the times I've eaten frog legs and realize these legs are comparable. I start thinking this through and began to ask Brennan how big this guy is. Right about that time, BOOM. I look, it has jumped up and knocked the lid off. Then before I can blink, it leaps out of its box and is headed right at me. HE IS ENORMOUS. I panic, he lands on my cabinet and then plops on the floor. He is jumping everywhere. I scream and take off running for the door (with my entire class on my heels). I stop. I realize I am the teacher here, I have to do something. The frog is jumping up and down and he can jump really high. I tell everyone to sit at their desk and remain calm. The frog is now hopping around behind my desk. Matter of fact, I am standing in front of my desk (far away) and I can see him because he is jumping higher than my desk. The kids want to know what to do if it comes by them. I tell them all to put their feet up, but seriously, this thing could clear them easily. I run next door to get my teacher friend. I simply tell her I need her help catching a frog right quick and she might want some gloves. We run back in my class and she sees it behind my desk jumping halfway up the wall. “What is that thing?”, she asks. “It’s a large frog”, I tell her. She says there is no way she’s touching him. I radio for help. The maintenance guy is off campus. Uh, oh. But three other women came running in with another guy and they are all in awe at the size of this thing. I quickly gathered that none of them were going for him.
Then behind them comes my sweet husband. He is at school to eat lunch with Caleb and was coming up to complain because I forgot to tell him he was supposed to bring his own lunch. He scopes out the situation and walked right over and picked up the frog with his bare hands and put in his cage. My Hero!!!
Needless to say, I didn’t get my class under control the rest of the day. Many of them told me that this was the best day of their lives. A small sacrifice for the heart attack I nearly had!! Today will be remembered as Froggy Friday.

Late Labor Day Post

As usual things have been nuts around here and I haven't had time to post since we got back from our fun D.C. trip. This weekend my sister, Jordan's brother and the little girls were in for the LSU/Vandy game. (Which was very wet and yucky, but still pretty fun.) I've also been struggling with clogged ears...which stinks. I've had a nasty cold, that I'm sure I can thank my 1st graders for, and when we flew in on MONDAY (yes 6 days ago) my ears clogged up and haven't come undone yet. I was so stressed about Eli's ears I didn't give mine a second thought. (Speaking of Eli...his ears are all better:) We went for our last recheck on Tuesday.) Anyway, I went to the Dr. alone with my 3 boys on Friday night because I just couldn't take it anymore. He gave me an antibiotic and told me a story about how his ears clogged up once for 5 days. He wouldn't talk until the boys were completely quiet. Needless to say, we were there awhile and I left frustrated with my chatty kids and clogged ears. I'm going to go nuts. Anyway, since I can't hear much I thought I'd go ahead and post about our D.C. trip.
We had a great time. My dad lives in Alexandria, Va...which is beautiful. He lives in a little house that was built in the 1930's. It is a little tiny place so we've dubbed it "the keebler house". He lives near T.C. Williams high school from "Remember the Titans". He's also just a few minutes from D.C. We were able to do ALL the tourist things. We walked quite a bit and became pros and riding the metro. Here are lots of pics, probably too many!

The airport: This was the first time for the boys to fly. They all did great. Caleb's favorite part was taking off and Eli's was landing. Micah talked the ENTIRE time.

The backyard at Dad's...The boys played on this stump forever. Only later did we discover it had quite a bit of poison ivy around it. Have I ever mentioned Caleb's unnatural poison ivy allergy? I've never seen anything like it, yep a Dr. visit was involved (once we got home). He's on a steroid. His face is getting back to normal.We went for a walk around Dad's neighborhood...The mall area and the Natural Science and History Museum (or as Caleb calls it "the battle of the Smithsonians")...One of my faves, Caleb's reflection in the Vietnam memorial wall...
Caleb and Papaw walking by the reflecting pool...
My baby hippo...
This picture cracks me up...Caleb was disappointed all the animals at the museum were dead, but he has always wanted to see an angler fish, a cookie cutter shark, and some kind of gigantic jellyfish that he knows the scientific name of. He got to see all three and was thrilled. My little left brain.Well, it is time for my 3rd nasal/sinus irrigation of the day so I'm going to head out. Maybe this is the one that will unclog me. My Dad is mailing me another CD of pics from the trip...so there may be more to come.

Remembering Katrina

Four years ago today we were waiting and watching...in Shreveport, La. That is where we stayed for the next 3 1/2 weeks until our power was back on. Our phone/cable/internet was out until after Christmas. Caleb was 1 1/2, Eli was 6 months, and food for thought...Micah was born May 29th, 2006 (do the math).
And this is what we came home to:

Our sweet little rental house was spared. We lived in a heavily wooded area near a river. We were surround by HUGE trees and a ton of them fell. Not one on the house though. Between Caleb and I there was a huge transformer.We lived across the street from St. Tammany Parish Hospital and were on their electric grid. So we were to be one of the first grids powered up. When they lit us up our house caught fire because some lines had crossed during the storm. Fortunately, someone saw it and they powered us down. We were then put at the end of the "power list" as an individual house.

Our shed was not spared. But honestly this is what about 1/2 of the HOUSES in Covington looked like including Jordan's grandparent's. Our shed had 3 trees on it.

In New Orleans this is what most houses looked like if not MUCH, MUCH worse. This house shows the water line and has been pushed into the house next door.

This house was very close to a levy breach and has water line too . The writing means: Not evacuated, 9/? (the date they inspected it), and 0 (the number of dead found). Notice the tree?

St. Tammany parish was changed forever receiving 70, 000 new people. Infrastructure/ construction is still being done now to accommodate. New Orleans will never be the same but much of it is coming back. So, today we are remembering Katrina.

It's not what it seemed.

So, I only thought that last Thursdays day of doctors was a LONG day. Little did I know what was in store for my little crew. We made it through the weekend without incident. The boys and I went and stayed with my mom for the weekend and I got LOTS of painting done. On Monday Eli's ear was still yucky and he was telling me he couldn't hear. He needed me to turn the TV up and his preschool teacher moved him to the front of the class but he still couldn't keep up with what was going on. He has a slight hearing loss from all of the ear problems in the past but it shouldn't affect him day to day. I had scheduled Micah to get his stitch out on Tuesday so I called and they said they could get Eli in at that time too. So, my Dr. tells me it isn't good and gives me a referral to our ENT. She also takes a sample from his draining (now VERY smelly) ear and does a staph culture. Wednesday we go to the ENT and he suctions his ear out and puts drops in and says we need to be back in 24 hours for him to see it again. PANIC. I hardly slept last night after doing a quick internet search of effects of a prolonged ear infection. It's not good (it never is on the internet). So we go back today and my ENT tells me that his ear is slightly better. It is a tad less smelly and draining a little less. He seems to be hearing a little better too. Anyway, he wants us back on Monday afternoon. All in all, in the last 7 days I've seen 5 doctors. I'm taking my puppy to the vet tomorrow and Eli has to be back at the ENT on Monday. Oh yeah, the boys' have a dentist appointment earlier that same morning. So, if you think about it say a little prayer for my little Eli. While Dr. offices are always a little stressful I am so grateful for ALL of our wonderful Drs. I'm hoping all will be well before our trip to D.C. on Friday.