Fall Fun!

Well, we're halfway through November...right in the middle of holiday madness! My November has actually not been too stressful. I'm slowly learning to balance mommy duties, school duties, me time and friends (oh yeah...and husband duties too!). I guess blogging has fallen into the "Can Wait Until Next Week" category. But, I have a few minutes, so here's a short little update.

Last week, in my attempt to really CLEAN the kitchen in preparation for our preschool mom Christmas Party (that takes place in November), I did what most moms do...I let Ty do WHATEVER he wanted as long as he stayed out of my way! I knew whatever he was up to was going to be messy from the crunching and banging sounds coming from the living room. He also made several sneaky trips to the pantry which I pretended not to see. When he finally called me in to see his special treat, this is what I found....

I think his "dinner surprise" consisted mainly of rice, margarita salt, egg noodles, stale corn chips, wheat pasta and a few other unrecognizable things. Luckily, there were no wet ingredients, so everything vacuumed up pretty easily. All in all, it was totally worth the mess for the hour of uniterrupted cleaning I got done.

Sam had another field trip, this time to the zoo and we had a great time! It was a little different from the pumkin patch, where the class all stayed together. This time, all parents were invited and most came, so we were allowed to just go off by ourselves and see whatever we wanted. We ended up hanging out with two other little girls so it was very relaxing and fun! We met back up with the class for a picnic, then headed back to school. Here's Sam with a gorilla....

Our Mom's Christmas Party was fun and I was thrilled to have an excuse to put our Christmas tree up the day after Halloween. Mike has finally accepted the fact that we're always going to celebrate Christmas two months early and was pretty accomodating in getting our gigantic 200 pound tree down from the attic. As always, two of my neighbors had their tree's up within a week of me so the neighborhood is looking very festive!

Thanksgiving is next week!! I'll be sure to post an update once I've recuperated!

Sam's First Field Trip

Sam had his first Kindergarten Field Trip today. We went to the Pumpkin Patch with all the other Kindergarten classes from his school. I've never seen him smile so big for such a long time. He had other little boys calling him to come play with them or wanting to stand next to him. He just looked so happy, and not just because I was there. In fact, he barely spoke to me most of the trip. Granny was in town so she came along too, but when I asked him if he wanted to sit with us or his friends he stayed with his friends. It was a little sad, but I was so happy to see him happy. We ended up picking him up early from school so Granny could spend some more time with him before heading back to the airport tomorrow and went out for beignets. It was a very special day!

The Things Kids Say...

A few days ago after visiting my neighbors brand new grandbaby, Sam asked me "Mommy, are are there any more babies in your tummy...or are you all empty?"

Is is October Already?

I can't believe how fast the time seems to be flying! It's Halloween time already and you know how fast Thanksgiving and Christmas sneak up after that. The last few weeks have been busy, but I've actually cut back on many of our activities so we can enjoy this beautiful weather and spend more time together. School was closed today, so I took the boys to pick out a pumpkin! They had a blast! I'm also adding a picture from cousin Jacob's Birthday party!

Kindergarten Update

I started this blog with a different title about how much I've overbooked myself since school has started. As I was reading back what I had written, I realized I was totally whining about having a life (something I've always wanted), so I deleted everything and started over. Instead, here is my wonderful Kindergarten update on Sam.

Well, we're over a month in and Sam's still loving school! I'm still in shock every day he happily gets on (and off) the bus. Homework started coming home last week and loves that too. His teacher sends the entire week's worth of homework out on Monday and they have until Friday to return it. It's a great system, because there are days that are just not good for homework. For the last two weeks we've done the entire weeks worth on Monday and returned it on Tuesday. It usually takes a couple of hours, but it's such a great feeling to not have to think about it for another week. I've gone to the class a couple of times for different activities and he's so happy to see me every time (he told me that was his favorite part of the day). His teacher knew I was concerned about his shyness, but has assured me several times that he's participating very well in class. It's like I have a different child from 6 months ago!!

Ty is loving school too, but I haven't received many updates from his teachers yet. Hopefully, I'll get to spend some time there during the holidays and get a better idea.

So, I'm glad I stopped myself from complaining to brag on my babies! I'm very proud of them.

What Kids Say....

I saw this is another blog and thought it was cute...

QUESTIONS TO SAM.......

How old is mom?
100

What's your favorite thing about mom?
when you come to compter class

What is mom's Job?
computer??

How old is dad?
150

What's your favorite thing about dad?
he gave me an ipod

What is dad's job?
water treatment

What do you want to be when you grow up?
tennis player

What state will you live in when you grow up?
Louisiana

Who do you wish you could spend more time with?
Both of ya'll (mom & dad)

What's your favorite thing to do?
Go on the swingset

Who's your favorite friend?
Everybody

QUESTIONS TO TY......

How old is mom?
12345678

What's your favorite thing about mom?
A kiss

What is mom's Job?
play on the computer

How old is dad?
I got to count him...I forgot

What's your favorite thing about dad?
a kiss too

What is dad's job?
He goes to work and plumps

What do you want to be when you grow up?
a rock and roll star

What state will you live in when you grow up?
Florida

Who do you wish you could spend more time with?
Granny and Paw Paw

What's your favorite thing to do?
the beach

Who's your favorite friend?
Luke

Gustav Evacuation Vacation - The Aftermath

THE THREE AMIGOS!

KADE TEACHES TY ABOUT JUPITER

FINALLY!

CLEANING THE YARD

CLEANING THE MARINA

The best thing about evacuating from a big storm is that although you're watching the TV constantly for updates, it's like the destruction is not really happening. It was nice being in Tennessee where everything was "normal". We took the boys to the planetarium, the children's museum and went shopping. The bad thing is that while we visit our friends in Nashville somewhat regularly for a real vacation...it's quite different when you are there because you need to be. I don't know why...it's silly, really. Our friends are always glad to have us and make us feel welcome (and this time with mom and grandmother in tow, too) it's just different. Anyway, the boy's were so happy to see their friend, Kade and I was so happy to see Kylie (the closest thing I will ever get to having a daughter, besides Brooke).

Today was the 1st time we ventured out of the house since we returned home. We had a family member in need of a window unit for their generator and we also needed a few things from the grocery. Walmart was a complete madhouse. Every aisle was completely jammed with people and they were very low on supplies and food. Traffic was crazy and I couldn't wait to get back home! It made me appreciate having air conditioning even more!

Stay tuned for updates on Hurricane IKE! He's expected to make and appearance somewhere near us, but not before making a visit to Mike's parents in South Florida. I just heard they left today and evacuated to Orlando.

Ty Meets His Teachers - Gustav Update!

Ty met his 4-year-old class teachers today and he loves them! It's been a crazy morning of preparing for Gustav (now expected to arrive on Tuesday), and a few other things going on, but we made it to the meeting and only a few minutes late. We spent last night making sure the boat was tied up properly and the boys helped dad load the "little boat" in to the back of my truck so it wouldn't blow away. This, of course, led to more drama this morning as it was the reason I knocked over my friends' neighbors mailbox on my way to the preschool. We were the last meeting of the day for the teachers and as we were leaving, they starting packing everything away for possible flooding of the preschool again. They've just announced that school is definitely closed for Tuesday and several friends and family members have already begun to evacuate. I'm hoping we make the trip to Tennessee, but we're still not sure what we're doing. As I was standing outside waiting for Sam's bus, I could hear several chainsaws at work removing loose branches and dead trees in preparation for the worst case scenario. I'm just going to pray that we wake up to good news tomorrow, by then we'll have to make a decision about what to do. In the meantime, Sam made this picture to keep Gustav away. I told him to make a sad face at the bottom...he looked at me strangly and assured me we'd be OK, so he made a happy face.

New update (9pm Sat night) We're leaving at 5am w/ mom and GG for Nashville

New Update (6am Mon morn, Labor Day) Didn't sleep at all Saturday night. The traffic was totally backed up at 2am, so we decided to leave right away. We were on the road by 3:30am, Sunday and it took 14 hours to get here (it normally takes 8). The news is saying Gustav will be hitting NO within a few hours. I'm so glad we're here. The weather is beautiful!

New Update (6:30am Sept 3, Wednesday) Well, we made it through Gustav! As far as I know, all family and property is fine with this exception of some minor damage and alot of downed trees. The only person in the extended family (mine and Mike's) with power is GG. We're heading back today and will stay with GG if our power in not up by tonight when we arrive home. A neighbor did see electrical trucks in our area last night, so we're expecting to have it very soon. Mike has to get back to work, so he's picking up a generator here and sleeping on the boat. There's a post on the church website that said they had no damage and neither did Sam's school. They will start back on Monday unless there's is a major issue with the power.

New Update (8am Sept. 4. Thursdsay) We made it home, and we're one of the few lucky ones with power, phone and cable! It took about 11 hours to get home, but we did have to stop and get some groceries about halfway (nothing is opened yet here) and drop GG off in Mississippi. Mom's still here with me and we're waiting to see who else will be coming from Baton Rouge to stay. It could we weeks before they have power.

STAY AWAY GUSTAV!!!

Here we go again!!!!

Ty's 1st Tennis Lesson

Well...it's really not his 1st. At age 3 he wanted to take lessons with Sam, but he wasn't old enough. After he showed so much interest in playing, I was able to convince Sam's coach to let him try it. It did not go well. At that age, he was just not ready to listen. So we decided to try again now that he is four. We couldn't get on the schedule with Sam's coach, so Ty and a couple of friends from his class went to a local Country Club for the lesson. They had a great time and it looks like we'll be making this a permanant thing. Why can't he like a sport that's air conditioned! It was probably one of the hottest days of the summer today!

Now that Sam is in the swing of things at Kindergarten, I'm getting Ty pumped up for his big first day of Pre-School coming up next week as long as Hurricane Gustav cooperates. So, I guess my next post will depend on the weather.