Catching Up

WOW...I didn't realize it had been so long since my last post. So much has happened since I last posted. We have been keeping busy with work and school. The hurricanes of course kept us hopping. Thank goodness we didn't have any major damage.
I love this time of year but I always get very nostolagic because from September to early January is when I miss my Illinois roots the most. The changing of the seasons and then the winter weather and snow for the holidays. Unfortunately we don't have that luxury here in the south but otherwise you can't beat our food.

We went to the Sertoma Air Show recently. The kids always enjoy it and of course we "big" kids do too. I always get chills at the military jets and it makes you appreciate all the sacrificing that they do for us. The Thunderbirds performed and it was very good. Amazing what they can do. Brent took some great pictures so I have posted a few. The funny round sorta object is a "ride" that he and his dad did. I didn't want to lose my lunch so I stayed on solid ground.
Brent has finally had his braces removed after 8 1/2 long years...poor kid. He had to have surgeries because of a tooth that was laying completly sideways in fact his orthodontist uses him as an example when going to conferences etc. He says a few years ago they would have never attempted to do what they did with him. He now has a beautiful straight smile and a quite expensive one too so I told him I better see him smiling ALL the time.
We are getting ready for company for the Thanksgiving holidays...can't wait to see them and be with family. I am very much a traditionalist when it comes to holidays.
Well hopefully I won't wait so long next time but in case I don't get back for awhile Happy Thanksgiving to all of my blogging buddies.

Tornados & Floods

Ok so I posted earlier on Hurricane Gustav well today we had 3 tornados (that I know of) that were spotted in our area of the Parish and we are under a flash flood warning so.....as you can see we haven't had a good September so far.
Today is Brent's 16th Birhday. Poor child I think it will be a memorable 16th birthday but not for the party, cake or cards because well he didn't get any. We will celebrate later when everything is back to normal...whatever normal is.
Happy Birthday Brent. I love you dearly!

Hurricane Gustav

Well thank God we have survived another one! We evacuated on Sunday morning and got back home Tuesday afternoon. We didn't have any major damage at our house or any of our families houses, however Crowely was hit in several areas pretty hard in fact the whole city doesn't have electricty yet and could still be several days still. Our electricty came back on Tuesday evening around 6:00 thank goodness. We are now having flash flooding and tornados. In fact there have been 3 that I know of that have been spotted in our area. I will be so glad when this is all over with. Hope everyone else is safe as well.

Vacation

I know it has been awhile since I"ve posted (once again) so I'll try to catch up on things as they have been happening. Heath was on vacation last week and spent the week finishing up on the wood floors in our den, kitchen and dining room. Then we decided to repaint the den...I have never been satisfied with the color since moving in so he spent all day yesterday working on that. We are both on vacation this week but haven't really done much. Brent has been busy for the last two days selling ads for the newspaper of which he is a new member this year. And of course we have been getting ready for school. Fun Fun...doesn't seem possible that the kids will be going back in a couple of weeks. I took them both one day a couple of weeks ago and we went and purchased uniforms and some supplies. Of course there will be more to come. We went to Baton Rouge today to the Mall of Louisiana..had a nice time, then went and ate at Ralph & Kacoo's...yummmm!!! We are planning on taking it easy tomorrow then leaving early Thursday morning for the funeral of Sis. Barbara Dowd. It doesn't seem possible that this wonderful saint of God has gone on but we know she is in a much better place. Please pray for the family at this time. It will be nice to get to see Judith and John and the boys but the circumstances are unfortunate. Well it is getting late and my busy day is catching up with me. I know I keep promising to post pictures and I'm going to one day. I just have to get Brent to help me. It is hard to teach an old dog new tricks:)

Happy 13th Birthday Heidi

Today was Heidi's 13th birthday....doesn't seem possible that my little girl is a teenager. Now I have two teenagers in the house....look out.
We took her out to eat tonight to Chef Roy's then went by DQ and got her an ice cream cake. Tomorrow we are having a party for her here at the house with more cake and ice cream.
We went to Arkansas for the 4th of July. Wendell, Pam, Heath the kids and I and Leanne all went to Hot Springs one day...we had a good time. I had never been there so it was a nice little trip. Then we went to eat on our way home and got stuck in a storm. The electricity went out in the restaurant...fortunately we had already eaten.
On our way home we stopped in Natchitoches and ate dinner with my inlaws and Brent stayed there for the week. Heidi and I went and picked him up in Alexandria this afternoon. So once again I have all my family together again.
Well better close just wanted to catch everyone up with things. I'm still planning on getting those pictures on here. Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Looking forward to the weekend

Don't have much new to report. I'm ready for the weekend. I've been doing alittle work around the house. We went and purchased a new bookshelf a couple of weeks ago so I was able to go through some boxes that I still had stored from the move (I know I know its almost been a year)we had fun looking through pictures had lots of laughs while we reminisced. Unfortunately I still don't have a place for all my books so I had to rebox several (didn't even want to count) of them and store them away again. Someday maybe I'll have an office/study to put them in....that would be real nice. I also purchased a valance for my kitchen window. It faces the back of the house and I have several different stained glass things hanging in it but I thought this would give it more of a finished look. I'm going to attempt to get some pictures taken this weekend so that I can post them of our house and yard. Until next time......have a good Friday!

Everyday storms

Well once again the Louisiana weather has started with its daily storms. We tend to get a shower with thunderstorms every day in the early afternoon. We have been pretty busy. Heath and I were both on vacation last week and it was nice. We went to camp for a few days then came home for a couple then on to the inlaws for Father's Day weekend. All in all we had a good time. It was nice to have the time off. Now we'll just begin the countdown till the next vacation.
Brent is away for the weekend so it is just Heath, Heidi and I. I'm sure we'll keep busy though.
Went to the MD the other day and for the first time in years I have been having high BP readings. Which is rather scary since I have been taking high blood pressure medicine for years now for a leaking valve and irregular heart beat. I am tending to beleive that is just in my genes.
Well must go so that I can hit the bed. Getting tired and I need to clean my house tomorrow so hopefully I can get an early start and be done early. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

National Honor Society

Ooops how could I forget to mention that Brent was inducted into the National Honor Society and Heidi into the Junior National Honor Society. Believe me they don't take after their dear ole mom in the academic world.

Busy Day

I'm finally sitting at home resting for a bit. Just got home from a Crowley Chamber of Commerce Silent Auction and Dinner. The food was good and the guest speaker was the Lt. Governor of Louisiana. It was nice. Although we are on different sides of the political scene he had some very nice things to say about tourism and our state.
My day started off at Heidi's awards ceremony at school where she really racked up. She was awarded the Woodmen of the World Award as well as certificates for her scores on the ILeap and for making all A's and B's (1) this year. She did very well I think. Brent had his earlier and he got awards for all A's and B's and for his scores on the GEE. They both did very well and we are very proud of them. Glad the school years is over for the year though so that we can "rest" somewhat.
It has been very hot around here the last few days so we are attempting to stay cool. One more week till vacation..YEAH
Have a GREAT Friday.

Catching Up

We have been so busy that I haven't posted in quite sometime. I keep promsing I'm going to do better but I never seem to sit down and do it. School is finished tomorrow. Brent is going to stay home but Heidi has to go to get her awards. I'm so proud of them both. They both had wonderful years. Brent finished with all A's and one B and Heidi with all A's. Very well done kiddos.
Heath and I are both on vacation in one more week and we are soooo looking forward to that. Talk about needing a break. We usually go to camp for the week but I don't think we are going to stay the whole time this year. I just can't physically take the heat too much anymore. I have been having some physical trouble again so I'm hoping to get that straightened out soon.
Well here's to summer and all its lazy days. Hope all of you are having a good summer so far.

Happy Anniversary

WOW I cannot believe it has been over a month since I posted last. We have been so busy around here time just flies by.
My wonderful husband and I celebrated 17 years of marriage this past Saturday. We were able to take a short trip. My mom came over and spent the weekend with the kids and we went away. It was nice to spend some quality time together just talking and enjoying each others company. We also treated ourselves to a very nice meal. Of course he also sent me some beautiful red roses on Friday and they were absolutely gorgeous. One of my coworkers saw them and said "you have such a good husband"...well I had to agree with her. I have the BEST one. I know I know all you other wives think yours is the best. I guess we'll have to agree to disagree:)
We planted some tomatoes earlier and they are really starting to grow. It is so exciting. My first tomatoes...that is sad huh? Oh well you gotta start somewhere.
Must get supper finished up as my husband is on his way home and we are usually ready to sit down and eat when he walks in the door.
Till next time!

Spring Weather

Hello to all! I think Spring has finally arrived in South Louisiana! I am sooooo excited. I have been patiently waiting (now I hope I'm not disappointed next week because we do get a cold spell around Easter) but for now it is wonderful.
We have decided that the weather is finally right to begin planting in our flower bed. When we moved into our house last summer there were just some overgrown shrubs in the front so we pulled all those up and laid new flower beds but never did get anything planted. Now we are ready to begin. Heath is outside now tilling up the flower beds then he will move to the back where we are going to attempt our first garden. Well I don't know if you could call it a garden or not. I think we are only going to try tomatoes and possibly squash or cucumbers but hey you gotta start somewhere right.
Brent has gone to Ron & Ellen's (aunt and uncle) for the weekend. They are his second set of grandparents....he is going to help Leah work in the yard there. He gets paid for that work so I think he thought it was the better deal besides the fact that he practically lives there anyway.
Well must run so that we can hit Lowes to purchase flowers etc for our projects. Wish me luck! Hopefully by tonight I'll be able to post for ya'll to drive on by and see my beautiful yard:)

Catching Up

Wow..I didn't realize that I hadn't posted in so long. We have been so busy but then again who isn't. We spent today working around the house. Several weeks ago Heath put laminate wood flooring in our den, kitchen and dining room. Unfortunately he wasn't able to get it finished so he has been working on it alittle each Saturday. Today he finished with the moldings and hopefully next weekend he'll get the side moldings down. It sure does look nice though. We have so enjoyed doing things around our new house. We had a beautiful day today. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. Unfortunately we are supposed to get bad weather on Monday and another cold front. We are all so ready for spring time around here. We did purchase our tomato plants today but can't plant them just yet due to the frost that we are supposed to get next week.
Brent has finished driver's ed and is going to go get his learner's permit next week. Look out! Doesn't seem possible that he is old enough to drive but time certainly does fly doesn't it? Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Working Weekends

Sometimes I like to spend my Saturdays doing all my running and then sometimes I like to spend them at home just relaxing, but sometimes I have to spend them doing work around my house....since this was supposed to be a cold rainy Saturday I chose the latter for this day......after sleeping in alittle we started right out working in the hall closet which we like to call our "Sams closet".....since we go to Sams and stock up on lots of things and that is where we store them. This closet was quite a bonus when we purchased this house a few months ago....we absolutely fell in love with it.....I know that might sound crazy to some people but you can never have enough storage in my opinion.
With Heath and I working together it didn't take us long to get that one done but then we moved to Heidi's room.....oh that was quite the chore since my little one is quite the pack rat......needless to say we finished that and then went to my office where Heath put together a book shelf for me. Then we decided to treat ourselves and went to DQ....
Now the laundry starts....which is my favorite chore....needless to say I do feel satisfied with the cleaning and reorganizing that was accomplished today and since tomorrow is Sunday we can enjoy our day of rest with a clean house.

Late Night Trips to the ER

Well I just got back from doing something I haven't done in quite some time. In my earlier post I mentioned that my kids have been sick. Well Heidi suddenly developed a rash and I got online and in doing some investigating suspected that it could be Scarlet Fever. So needless to say we just returned home from a stint in the ER and yes my suspicions were confirmed. She has Scarlet Fever which is brought on by Strep Throat which she tested positive for. Her heart rate was very high and she was dehydrated so they hooked her up and gave her fluids and medication and we stayed for that but thank goodness we are now back home and she is in bed. Hopefully to have a peaceful nights sleep and I trust we are on the road to recovery. Having children that aren't small anymore I had forgotten what it is like to have that rush of "fear" hit you when you don't know what is wrong with your child. It is frightening...no matter how minor it turns out to be the mother in you immediately starts imagining every sceniaro possible. As we were sitting there waiting to see the doctor Heidi said "Mom I don't like hospitals...I know they are nice but if I was a kid I wouldn't want to have to be at one all the time like those poor kids at St. Judes".......God is good!

Sickness

Well it seems we have been hit with the sick bug this past couple of weeks. Brent had it first and now Heidi is taking her turn. I told her this morning that I think it is high time we all got back to normal around here. I'm tired of all this stuff. I hate it when my kids are sick. Makes the house seem soooo quiet.
We spent Saturday around the house and Sunday as well. Doesn't seem like Sunday when you can't get to church.
Hopefully we'll all be feeling better next time I post.
I am having so much fun reading others blogs and keeping up with what is going on in their lives. It is so neat to be able to keep up with friends and family all across the country.

Happy New Year

It's been awhile since I've posted so I'll have to update ya'll. We had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. We went to Heath's grandmas on Christmas Eve and had our Christmas with them then on Christmas Day we stayed home and my mom and grandma came over and had dinner with us and spent the day. It was very relaxed and nice for a change. We went to Natchitoches the weekend before New Years and had a nice time with the inlaws having our Christmas with them. It was nice to see Me-Maw Pounds is settling in at her new apartment in an assisted living facility. We had a nice experience on Christmas Eve....on our way home from Me-Me's we saw something sitting in the road and it turns out it was a small kitten. Well needless to say we didn't want to run over it so we stopped but then couldn't find the kitten anywhere...turns out it had crawled up under the car and rode home with us....need I say more....Yes we have another cat...that makes 3.....which in my opinion is too many but what can you do...my son is quite the animal lover and just couldn't stand the thought of it being homeless.....so he has settled in amongst us and we have another baby in the house.....