Geaux Saints

Ok, so our team isn't doing very good so far this season. But as they say, "KEEP THE FAITH".

(I know I am blurry, but it is a special picture)

At Jacque's preschool all the children in her class wear the same color, different day, different color. Monday was black day, and she was SO excited to wear her "SAINTS" shirt. I wore mine that day too, because they were playing the Titans for Monday Night Football. When we got to preschool that day, EVERYONE was wearing black & gold, with Fleur De Lis, even little kids wearing their cheerleader outfits and team jerseys... The people here are FANatics about football! During preseason we were at a doctors appointment on a game day, and the doctors, nurses, & all the personnel had Saints attire on with their scrub bottoms. It WAS NOT like that with the Cleveland Browns.

Stuck in Minivan

I did a 3 week experiment. I kept track of the time I spent in my van during a Monday ~ Friday week. The reason I did this is because it feels like I am always driving and when I do get home I have an hour or so, then I have to leave again.

Where am I going? What I am doing? Well, are you ready? It's actually who has what appointment, where at & when? The only thing is how is a given. I am just lucky nothing overlaps...

THE RESULTs in # numbers #

14 average HOURS I spend in my minivan

2 times/week ~ Baby Paul has physical therapy

2 times/week ~ Josiah & Jacque have speech therapy

all 4 therapy appointments are on different day of the week, thankfully...

we have 1 day during the week that we don't have appointments, just making sure Josiah get to and from school.

5 days/week ~ I drop off and pick up Josiah for all-day kindergarten

3 times/week ~ I drop off & pick up Jacque from half-day preschool

13 round trips to/from Josiah's and/or Jacque's schools

5 miles each way

65 miles/week just getting children to & from school

on top of all that... I still have errands & I have to refuel quite often, as you can imagine.

When Saturday comes, we stay home & mom catches up on housework. Its mom's therapy.

I didn't count the time in the van on Sunday... which isn't much. We can call church our spiritual therapy.

* results are approximate, does not include time spent inside schools, doctor appointments, ect.

ok, lets do miles...

37 miles ~ Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday

22 miles ~ Thursday (that's just getting Josiah to and from school)

48 miles ~ Friday

0 miles ~ Saturday (yea!)

12 miles ~ Sunday

193 miles ~ Monday - Sunday ~ TOTAL

Sunday

I love seeing the kids dressed up for church. Hannah & Paul are now 5 months old.

Egret (ee-grit)

I love these birds. They are finally back in the water around here. All summer long I didn't see any. They are so graceful. They walk like a chicken, have a neck like a goose, but small like a duck. We see them all the time in the canals that run between the main streets here.

We also see turtles on top of rocks in the canals.

You're probably thinking, what in the world?? I found this picture online and had to post it. It reminded me of the first time Paul and I evacuated for a hurricane, it was 2005- Dennis. We had no idea what to do or where to go... to make a very long story short, we ended up driving to Missouri, through dark, old highways up though Arkansas. Can I say that is a weird place. Well, Paul had been driving for over 10 hrs thus far, and thought I would be fine to take over while he took a nap. About 5 minutes later an ARMADILLO ran under the car and I heard its shell under the tires. I got quite upset about killing that little critter. Paul jumped up,"what was that!?" "I think it was an armadillo? I hope we don't get a flat." Then about 20 minutes later, I ran over a kitty too. That made me start to cry and Paul gave up on his rest and took over driving. That is our armadillo story.

LOVE BUGS

I am sure you guys think I have some weird obsession with bugs. Maybe so... they are just so strange here, I like to get their picture and learn about them, then share it with you. :)

These have been flying all over the place lately. What a great name, LOVE BUG! Please check out wikapedia. It has some neat info & folklores about these insects.

Hunting For Seeds

I am always looking for something

to keep Josiah's active mind busy.

I noticed we constantly have little red seeds in the front yard (along with tons of fallen, brown, crunchy, leaves). Our estranged neighbors have a giant Magnolia tree in the front of their abandoned, gutted, & boarded up duplex. Most of the large branches hang over our front yard, roof, & all the power, phone, & cable lines coming into our house (which always worries me to no end, trees can cause so much damage). However, it's really nice to have shade, but it is a very messy tree. I found out that Magnolia trees are evergreens. That is why it is shedding leaves in our yard year round.

Anyways... as I was saying... It has these huge pine cone looking things called seed pods, that fall each & every day and sometimes we can hear them falling onto our roof. Inside these are little red seeds, which mostly fall out when the seed pod hits the ground. (it must be just this time of year it seeds) So for now we are guaranteed on a daily basis to have replenished red seeds for Josiah to hunt & collect.

The magnolia is actually the state flower, and I love spring time when all the magnolia trees bloom, it is really pretty.

Here are the babies in their usual positions, in their bouncy chairs or on the floor doing tummy time. The one of Hannah is so precious because she was feeling so yucky after getting her 4 month shots, she was so sad and she was holding her soft pink bunny that she loves and always holds. It's so adorable.

Little Miss Hannah

After taking a bath, all wrapped up in her towel.

What can I say? She is soooo sweet!

B o t t l e s

OH, does it ever end?? FEED, RINSE, SOAK, WASH, DRY, FILL, FEED... I mentioned to Paul one night that I can't wait until we don't have to wash 18 bottles everyday! I B.F. Josiah & Jacque and there are pro's & con's with both methods... but, cleaning bottles everyday gets so tedious. I am actually not the one who cleans the bottles each night, my wonderful and most helpful husband Paul does that for me. THANK YOU sweetheart, I couldn't do it without your help! (I do bottles on occasions that Paul gets really busy with work & school)

TheHurricaneStory, By Josiah

Josiah wanted me to make a movie with him. He did this all on his own. I told him to draw pictures on pages and that would record him.

~

Here is the movie I recorded of him telling his story:
It is really short... it is sideways, I didn't know how to rotate a video??

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I think it is very interesting the way children are so resilient, and know how to deal with their fear and feelings. Even though he wasn't here for the flood, he has a very good memory and remembers what was talked about and even now, he sees the devastation and wants to talk about it. We are very open and honest with him, but remind him how blessed we are that those things didn't happen to us. He plays hurricane with Jacque too... there have been a few things that I'll share; he played with Jacque's doll house and he got his big dump truck and emptied everyone & everything out into the truck to get away from the hurricane... one time he was playing with Lego's and made a house with 2 floors and a roof, the house had a ladder on it to climb to the roof in case of a flood. He also made a boat that had boxes stacked on it, with enough food he could give to other people... here is his story:

~

A person is falling in the water & that person has a boat & all the houses are flooded...

~

~

'cause on the back it says Hurricane Katrina & that person, you know why he’s sad? ‘cause he don’t want it to be a hurricane, he is saying help & that is the water...

...That is Princess Janie...

...& that is Knight Josiah & he is going to save Janie...

...& that is Janie’s castle and it is Josiah’s too.
THE END

s o

s w e e t

Only in Nawlin's Ya'll

I was at the grocery store one night (all by my self :) , after ALL the kids went to bed), while I was in the checkout line, the women ahead of me, for some reason scolded her boy, saying, "Don't you be doin' that when you're makin' groceries!"

It had been a while since I heard that... since most of the people I am around aren't actually from "Nawlin's, Loozie Anna". I just smiled real big, and quietly laughed to myself thinking, "I love this place".

Definition: 1. making groceries; Going to the store to buy some food for the house. 'Me and the wife are making groceries tonight.' ~ This actually originated in New Orleans... this phrase probably originated from the French expression for grocery shopping, "faire le marché". The verb "faire" can mean either "to do" or "to make", and the idiom may have been mistranslated.
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When I was at one of my daily appointments with the kids, I was feeding the babies in a hospital cafeteria. On each table there was salt, pepper, and a big bottle of Tabasco sauce... here is a comparison of the 'normal', 5oz bottle & the one I saw, the 12 oz bottle, little did I know, McIlhenny offers Gallon jugs too. Some people have this stuff in their food storage! The brand did originate here so that is probably why.

Jacque's First Day of Preschool

Jacque is so excited. Last year I put her on the waiting list, she has been looking forward to this for over a year now. She calls the playground the "backyard". Her teachers go by their first names, Ms. Kathy & Ms. Pam, they call the children, Ms. Jacque & Mr. Michael... I love the south! She got a little shy, and hid behind my leg, but I reassured her, to have fun, and that I will come back to get her. Jacque talks non-stop and she just went on and on all weekend long.

It is next to Josiah's school, so that makes it a little convenient.